


A Tandor Christmas

by EeveeBailey (StarlingJedi)



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Fan Games, Pokemon Uranium - Fandom
Genre: Although I Did Include a Tiny Bit of Angst at the Beginning, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Gen, I Actually Wrote Fluff Instead of Angst This Time, I Couldn't Help It LOL, Including Pokemon Versions of Christmas Tales and Songs, It's Christmas and Pokemon!, Post-Game(s), Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-25 23:18:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13223328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlingJedi/pseuds/EeveeBailey
Summary: *SPOILER ALERT FOR POST-CHAMPIONSHIP*It's Christmas Eve at Auntie's house in Moki Town: Kellyn is awkward, Pluto is unsure, and Urayne just wants to decorate everything.  But somehow, Christmas spirit manages to bring them together.Written for the Uranium Creators Collective's Secret Santa Holiday Gift Exchange





	A Tandor Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Horrorterror](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Horrorterror/gifts).



> Written for Casey (check out their awesome Uranium RP blog here: http://trainercasey.tumblr.com/) as part of the Uranium Creators Collective's Secret Santa Holiday Gift Exchange. They requested a fluffy Christmas fic with either Pluto/Casey or Natalie spending their first Christmas in ten years with Kellyn, and with Urayne learning all about the holidays.
> 
> I tend to be more in an angst mood than a fluff mood this time of year, but.... Casey, I hope you like it! :D

[Higher!]

Pluto stood on their toes, carefully balancing themselves on the stepladder as they lifted Urayne higher, bringing the small Pokémon to eye level with the garland hanging across the ceiling.  Urayne carefully hung the ornament on the garland; as Pluto lowered him again, he looked around and then pointed to a string of lights toward the corner of the room.  [We need to put another one over there!]

“Sure thing,” Pluto said agreeably, cradling Urayne in their arms as they stepped off the stepladder and moved it toward the corner in question.  They took another ornament out of the box and handed it to Urayne, then made one final repositioning of the stepladder and climbed up once more.

“Be careful up there, dear,” Auntie said as she passed through the living room.  Pluto glanced over their shoulder at her as she knocked on the door to their parents’ bedroom.  “Kellyn, dear…”

Pluto turned their attention to Urayne once more, feeling slightly uneasy.  Here it was, Christmas Eve, and Kellyn hadn’t come out of the room at all.  It was hardly unexpected – he’d pretty much spent every waking moment at Lucille’s bedside since she was brought there – but Pluto couldn’t help but feel just a little disappointed anyway.

Pluto heard Auntie come back through the living room, heading for the kitchen to presumably check on the cookies.  A moment later, they heard the sound of following footsteps.  Curious, Pluto turned to look and saw Kellyn standing just outside the bedroom door, looking around with a look of surprise on his face.

“Oh… hey,” Pluto said uncertainly.  “I wasn’t sure if you’d, um… be here tonight.”

Kellyn winced slightly, lips pursing thoughtfully.  “Well… it… _is_ Christmas Eve, after all.”

Pluto turned their focus back on Urayne, watching him hang his ornament on the string of lights.  As they tried to think of something to say, Kellyn spoke again.  “You two look like you’ve been busy.”

“Oh yeah…”  Pluto carefully climbed down from the stepladder and set Urayne down, looking around at the all of the garland and lights and ornaments strung around the living room that almost completely obscured the actual ceiling.  “We, ahh… got a bit carried away, I guess,” they said with a slight blush.  “But it’s fun.”

Urayne hovered over to Kellyn and gestured excitedly at the decorations.  [I helped!]

Kellyn grinned at Urayne’s excitement.  “So I see.  It looks very… festive.”

Satisfied, Urayne turned to Pluto.  [Is there more?]

Pluto glanced inside the box of decorations; it was nearly empty, save for one more ornament and some scattered pieces of tinsel.  “We’re out of garland, and I don’t think there’s anyplace left to hang ornaments.”  Seeing Urayne’s dismayed expression, they added, “I’d say it’s enough for now, though.  It looks great.”

[You really think so?]

“Absolutely!”  Pluto smiled, then turned toward the kitchen as they heard a timer ding.  “Oh, I think the cookies are done!”  They rushed to the kitchen, Urayne trailing behind them, just as Auntie was taking the trays out of the oven.

“Just in time to decorate the cookies,” Auntie said, setting the trays on the cooling racks.  “These should cool quickly, and then we can frost them.”

Urayne reached up and grabbed the edge of the counter, pulling himself higher to get a closer look at the cookies.  [Frost?]

“Yup,” Pluto said, picking Urayne up.  “We’re gonna decorate these with frosting and sprinkles and stuff.  And then we’re going to eat them.  But not all of them; we’ve got to save some for Santa.”

[Santa?  What is Santa?]

Auntie chuckled.  “This has been a few years, hasn’t it, Pluto?  It’ll be fun doing this again.”

“Sure will,” Pluto said with a grin.  They glanced over at Kellyn, who had joined them in the kitchen, then turned their attention back to Urayne.  “All right, so… nobody _really_ knows quite who or what Santa is – nobody has ever seen him before.  But according to legend, Santa is actually an Anderind that dresses in a red coat and a floppy red hat.  And instead of riding his tail like a snowboard, he rides in this giant sleigh pulled by a herd of Fafninter.  And every Christmas Eve, they travel around Tandor after everyone has gone to sleep, and puts presents under the tree.”

Urayne stared at Pluto in amazement.  [Wow…!]  He turned to look at Kellyn.  [Have _you_ ever seen Santa?]

Kellyn froze, looking slightly taken aback.  “Me?”

[You’re a Ranger, you must have seen every Pokémon in the world… surely _you’ve_ seen Santa!]

Kellyn glanced up at Pluto briefly.  “Well…” he finally said, “I… haven’t had the opportunity to see every Pokémon in existence.  The world is a very big place, and there are still lots of regions and Pokémon that haven’t even been explored yet.”

[So… even you haven’t seen Santa?]

“I haven’t.  But like Pluto said, nobody has.  Nobody is really quite sure what Santa looks like.  In Almia, we used to say that Santa was a giant Delibird that travelled around the region and gave out gifts to all the good children.”

[But how does Santa travel all across the region in one night like that?  And does he travel to all the regions or is there a Santa for every region?]

Kellyn blinked.  “That’s… a good question, actually.  The people of Almia and Sinnoh say that Santa is helped by Palkia – who can teleport him from place to place – and Dialga – who can slow down time – to make sure he gets to all the houses he needs to visit.  That’s part of why we leave cookies for them – it takes a lot of energy to do that.”

Urayne turned to Pluto.  [What about here?  Do Palkia and Dialga help Santa here too?]

Pluto looked up at Kellyn, who was clearly trying not to laugh.  “I… don’t know.  Truthfully, I’ve never heard of either one until today.  I guess so?  I always thought the Fafninter herd that pulled Santa’s sleigh were just really strong and fast.  But then again… Anderind isn’t nearly as fast as, say, Alpico.”  They finally shrugged.  “Yeah, I guess that’s how Santa does it in all the regions.”

Auntie came over with the cookie decorations, and Pluto set Urayne on the counter to take them.  “It’s amazing how the stories change from region to region,” she said.  “Here, Kellyn, join us.”  As Kellyn came over and took a tube of frosting from Auntie, she continued.  “When I was a little girl – right at Pluto’s age, in fact – I did some traveling of my own.  Johto was probably my favorite region to visit.  They say that Santa is actually a human whose sleigh is pulled by a Stantler, and he has a Delibird who helps him give out presents.  His workshop where he makes all his toys is in a distant land called the North Pole, and he has a team of Jynx who help him make the toys.”

Pluto, Urayne, and Kellyn had all stopped their cookie-decorating to listen to Auntie’s story.  Both Urayne and Kellyn seemed absolutely enthralled by the story.  Pluto, who had heard this tale in Christmases past, couldn’t help but smile at their captivation.  “One day, I’d love to travel to all these regions… see all these different Pokémon and hear all those stories,” they said.  “It’s really fascinating.”

Auntie chuckled fondly.  “I’m sure you will, Pluto.  It’s a big world out there.”

Kellyn turned to the cookies in front of him.  “Maybe… Almia would be a nice place to start?” he suggested.  Pluto turned to look at him curiously.  “You wouldn’t be able to catch the Pokémon there like you can here, but it would be a great place to see a lot of new Pokémon.  And, we do have family there… I, uh… haven’t been back in many, many years.”  He seemed a bit wistful as he spoke.  “We… that is to say, your mother and I… had planned to travel there when you were a bit older.  Perhaps now… or well… when she recovers…”  He looked over to meet Pluto’s gaze.  “Maybe we could still do that…?”

Pluto hesitated, not quite sure what to say.  After so many years of it just being them and Auntie, and after everything that they went through in the past few months, they were still getting used to having Kellyn back in their lives.

Urayne was the first to break the awkward silence.  [Yeah, vacation!  Family vacation!]

Both Kellyn and Pluto looked over at Urayne, then simultaneously looked back to each other.  Kellyn offered a shy half-smile.

Pluto took a deep breath.  “That… sounds fun, Dad,” they said, offering a genuine smile in return.

Kellyn seemed to relax visibly as they all resumed their work with the cookies.

“Well,” Auntie remarked, “isn’t this turning into a lovely Christmas?”  As she joined them with the cookie decorating, she started to sing:  
  


“ _Rudolph, the shiny Stantler_

_Had a shiny crimson nose._

_And if you ever saw it,_

_You would even say it glows._

_All of the other Stantler_

_Used to laugh and call him names._

_They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph_

_Join in any Stantler games._ ”

 

Pluto smiled happily and chimed in:

 

“ _Then one foggy Christmas Eve,_

_Santa came to say_

_‘Rudolph with your nose so bright,_

_Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?’_

_Then how the Stantler loved him_

_As they shouted out with glee,_

_‘Rudolph, the shiny Stantler,_

_You’ll go down in history!’_ ”

 

Kellyn smiled, humming along softly to the tune.  Pluto glanced over at him, looking calmer and more peaceful than he had in a while as he reached over and helped Urayne with the frosting tube, and felt like maybe, on this night before Christmas, things with their family would turn out okay after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Uranium fanwork creators and fans -- I invite you all to come join us over at the Creators Collective Discord server!
> 
> Invite link to the server: https://discord.gg/RrEAdZM


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